Democrats are again taking Latinos for granted. They assume Latinos are likely to vote to re-elect Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) on Tuesday. The Democratic Party, they argue, has always been Latinos’ home. It’s the party for those who need a helping hand from government, for minorities. For most Democrats, it’s unimaginable that Latinos would desert the party and not vote for a liberal stalwart like Boxer.

But the composition of the Latino population changed dramatically due to the great wave of migration that started in the mid-’90s. So is this assumption still valid? I don’t think it is.

Sure enough Boxer’s support among Latinos has eroded steadily this fall – to 47 percent on Oct. 26 from 62 percent on Sept. 2.

The Latinos of today are not the same demographic as 20 years ago. More than

40 percent are now foreign-born. A good percentage of rest is the children of immigrants. This means that today’s Latino community is culturally more attached to the conservative values of Latin American society than to those of the more secular and liberal popular culture of the developed West.

It shows. Latinos are church-going people, who often have large families. They value the extended family life.

Studies consistently show that the majority of Latinos in the United States believes that abortion should be illegal, and oppose same sex marriage. Remember that one reason Proposition 8, opposing gay marriage, passed was because 53 percent of Latinos voted for it.

Yet, as culturally aware as they are to their home countries, they are also aware of the failures of Latin American economies. There, government involvement can be excessive and entrepreneurship thwarted by economic elites.

Most Latino immigrants came here to escape those economic tiers. They are possessed of the conviction that, because the rule of law and equality prevails in the United States, they can aspire to be full members of the larger society — not a permanent underclass or minority group.

All this may be one reason they don’t respond well when they learn that Boxer is a fierce advocate of abortion rights and same-sex marriage. Or when they learn that she has supported President Barack Obama’s policies, which dramatically expanded the size of the federal government. They do not want heavy burdens placed on small and family owned businesses and private initiative discouraged. They have seen first-hand what this does to an economy — and society as a whole.

On immigration, they have also realized that Boxer has done little. While saying that she is for “comprehensive reform,” in her 18 years in the Senate, she hasn’t pushed the immigration issue forward.

On the contrary, when she had the opportunity to vote for a bipartisan reform bill in 2007, she voted against it. She called the temporary worker program, which would have allowed thousands of Latin Americans to come and work legally, “a pool of cheap labor.”

I am aware most Latinos still see themselves as Democrats. But today that’s more about tradition -- not belief. The Democratic Party has consistently courted Latinos since John F. Kennedy ran in 1960. Republicans are also regarded as unfriendly because of their seeming hostility to immigrants.

Nonetheless, the more Latinos learn about the views of Democrats like Boxer, the less enthusiastic they are about supporting them. They find that there’s a real divide between the values they hold sacred and what someone like Boxer stands and fights for.

The Democrats’ condescension to Latinos doesn’t help. Latino immigrants and their children don’t enjoy being looked down on as a “special group” that cannot prosper without government support. They reject the ethnic identity politics that may have aided liberal politicians in the past.

While they are a demographic minority, they don’t have a “minority mentality.”

So when they see a candidate like the Republican Senate candidate Carly Fiorina, who is anti-abortion, who believes that marriage is between a man and a woman, who supports small government policies and the empowerment of small business owners and entrepreneurs, Latinos realize they have an alternative.

When they see how she has rejected the ugly immigration rhetoric from some in her own party; and supported the guest worker program and legislation that could legalize agricultural workers and young students who want to go to college or serve in the military, they see more reasons to favor her. They begin to see that they have a candidate who shares their values.

At the end of the day, Fiorina doesn’t need the vote of the majority of Latinos to win. She just needs a reasonable increase in Latino support from what Boxer’s opponents have received in the past.

As more Latinos learn about Boxer’s views, this becomes more possible.

Then many more Americans are likely to understand that the conventional political perceptions about Latinos don’t hold true today.

Alfonso Aguilar is the executive director of the Latino Partnership for Conservative Principles.